Soldier and outsider in a duel to the death

ANALYSIS by Alan Philps in JerusalemNovember 7 2002

Mr Sharon is facing defeat in the leadership ballot over the economy and his failed efforts to keep the coalition with Labour together. Photo: AFP

For years the Likud has been a battleground between two men who see themselves as guardians of Israeli security - Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, and his challenger, Benjamin Netanyahu, the new Foreign Minister.

They are promising to work together in government, while battling for the party leadership, until the election, tipped to be held on January 28.

To the dismay of the party faithful, Sharon has spoken of the possibility of a Palestinian state and has resisted pressure to send Yasser Arafat into exile. Netanyahu is the darling of the Likud militants, demanding the Palestinian leader's departure.

At a Likud central committee meeting in May, Netanyahu humiliated the Prime Minister by forcing a vote on the motion that there should never be a Palestinian state west of the Jordan.

An angry Sharon could not accept this, knowing that Washington was committed in principle to a Palestinian state. ");document.write("

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It would be a surprise if the party does not adopt Netanyahu as its leader for the elections as Sharon has disappointed his constituency by allowing the economy to slump and investing too much effort in a national unity government with the Labour Party, arch-rivals of the Likud.

The two men are very different. Sharon has taken part - as a soldier, defence minister or prime minister - in all Israel's wars. Netanyahu is more of an outsider, but a natural when talking to the English-speaking world. He became prime minister in 1996 without ever serving in the cabinet.

Despite his hawkish reputation he agreed to hand over most of Hebron to the Palestinians. The country voted him out of office and brought in Ehud Barak, the Labour leader, on a promise of peace. Those hopes turned into the nightmare of the Palestinian uprising.

The real prize, for which Sharon and Netanyahu have been sparring for a decade, lies ahead when the Likud is expected to become the biggest party in the Knesset and provide that rare commodity, a stable platform for government.